by Mallika Mitra In 2020, the holiday season brings an extra year-end deadline to keep in mind: Dec. 31 is the last day to make penalty-free withdrawals from your 401(k) under the CARES Act. With the passage of the CARES Act in March, Americans affected by the pandemic were allowed to withdraw up to $100,000 from their retirement accounts without the 10% early-withdrawal penalty people under the age of 59½ usually face.